


At the War Table

by Purplefern



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: 3rd person limited Wu POV, Acronix has ADHD, Dialogue Heavy, Exploring the Elemental Alliance, F/M, Gen, I'm Bad At Titles, Introspection, Serpentine War, War Meetings, Wu tries his best, leadership struggles, pre-Garmadon leaving Chen, using elemental titles as names, well meaning asshole Hands of Time, which is minorly important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplefern/pseuds/Purplefern
Summary: Leading the Elemental Alliance through a war on his own was already difficult enough for Wu. The Time Twins arguing every step of the way weren’t making it any easier for him.(A oneshot exploring the possible dynamics of the Elemental Alliance during the Serpentine Wars.)
Relationships: Maya/Ray (Ninjago) (in the background), Sensei Wu & Acronix, Sensei Wu & Elemental Alliance, Sensei Wu & Krux
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	At the War Table

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just on a Time Twins kick right now, I guess. So here's another fic about the Time Twins. Sort of. Actually, it's a bit more about Wu now that I think about it. Anyway, enjoy.

“We have gathered that a troupe of venomari and fangpyre serpentine are likely to attack these villages--” explained a young Wu, gesturing to a battle diagram to the attention of the Elemental Alliance, “so,” he continued, gesturing to each person as he spoke, “Masters of Fire, Water, and Ice, if you could go--” 

“Fire? Against a group of venomari?” interjected the Master of Future Time, all eyes shooting to him as he gave the Master of Creation a critical sardonic grin, “Surely you must be joking. With all of that venom around, old hothead here would just light the whole village up.” Acronix laughed as Ray’s brows furrowed. 

“And you are so controlled, Master of the Future?” returned the blacksmith bitingly. 

“I wouldn’t destroy the village at least,” challenged the Hand of Time, “If my brother and I were sent, then--”

“Enough,” said Wu forcefully, staring down the arguing elementals, “Your point is acknowledged, Future,” allowed Wu, nodding at the time elemental. He frowned as the Time Twin smugly smirked at the fire user. “How _ever_ ,” he stressed, “There is a proper time and manner to suggest changes to the plan, _without_ insulting your fellow Elemental Masters.” 

Acronix shrugged at the complaint, clearly not thinking it important. Wu’s frown deepened. The Masters of Time were both powerful in their own right, but they were incredibly undisciplined. If the elementals didn’t need their strength, Wu was not certain he would have even wanted them in the alliance. 

Sighing, and kneading at his increasingly world-wearied brow, Wu suggested tiredly, “Why don’t we all take a small break from strategizing for the moment?” 

The tightly huddled alliance broke apart, and Wu observed as the two twins drifted off to the side on their own. He sighed again, watching the two as they seemed to go to their own world -- one seemingly too important for anyone else to enter. 

Sinking down to lean against the table lined with diagrams, maps, and serpentine army patterns, Wu held his head in his hands and fought off a growing headache while he let the chatter of the room wash over him. Fighting a war was hard enough without the alliance fighting each other. Seeing how close the Time Twins were made him wish his own brother were here to give him some assistance. Garmadon was a better leader than Wu was, he knew it. He couldn’t keep anyone together. Sucking in a shaky breath, the unwilling alliance leader exhaled slowly, trying to get his wits back together. He was the son of the First Spinjitzu Master, he reminded himself. Ninjago was in danger. He had to keep going. 

Standing back to full height, he called out, “Alright everyone!”, re-summoning the group to the war table. “We should resume.” 

“I fail to see why we took a break in the first place,” remarked the Master of Past time, his arms crossed critically as he stepped back towards the table. “Idle chatter will not stop serpentine.” 

“Neither would raised tempers,” responded Wu as levelly as he could, “We needed a moment to cool off,” even as he said this, he looked meaningfully to Past’s twin brother, who was a step behind the rest in rejoining at the table, his attention seemingly fixed on something else for the moment. 

The older Hand of Time hmmphed in reply, but thankfully did not argue the point. Satisfied, Wu looked back over the Alliance one more time, making sure everyone was present. All masters were gathered back around the table, and looked up to him (even, mercifully, Future, who had an annoying tendency to just completely stop paying attention mid-meeting.) “Now,” he said, turning back to the map and getting the meeting truly back on track, “intel suggests signs of constrictai scouts in this quadrant--” 

“Then we should attack at once!” cut in the Future Twin once again, his fists clenched and looking _very_ eager for a fight. 

“We cannot,” stoically retorted the Master of Ice, the original source of the intel, “The serpentine are hiding within and beneath the villages in the area,” he explained. 

“Then we must search the villages,” inputted the Past Twin critically, looking over the dots on the map that indicated serpentine activity, “We cannot risk enemy spies getting any further strategic intelligence.” 

“Are you crazy?” exclaimed Lightning, looking to the Time Twin with confused disbelief, “There are people living there, we can’t just go tearing everything apart looking for _possible_ spies!” There were muttering agreements from other elemental masters at her argument. 

“Oh, please,” scoffed the young man right back, waving off the complaint and not even looked at Libber as he did, “Everything could be put right back. But information cannot be removed from any serpentine once they discover it.” The gathered elementals frowned in varying severities at the suggested tactic (except, naturally, for the other Master of Time who nodded along to his twin’s idea). 

Wu shook his head, shooting down the idea, “We can’t risk causing innocent civilians any harm. We will find another way to investigate.” 

“And waste further time?” argued the Master of the Future, just as emphatic as his twin though a good deal louder. 

In tandem, the Master of the Past jumped right in to his brother’s outcry, arguing as well, “Searching through indirect means will take far too long. The most effective thing to do is to search at the source-- the villages.”

“Civilians would only end up harmed if they’re snakes,” added Acronix to the retort, now mirroring his brother’s cross-armed stance. Laughing roughly he jested, “Not that a civilian snake would matter, much.” 

The entire alliance traded uneasy glances. They all knew they couldn’t go raiding civilian houses for spies, and one by one they looked to Wu to deny the idea once again. 

“We are not doing that,” he told the twins as sternly as he could (which could be quite stern when he needed, one learned how to shut down arguments when one was the son of a practical god). Waving off their protests he declared in a final voice, “We will discuss this no further. The Master of Earth can explore nearby areas to fund tunnels of entry and we will work from there.” 

“Thank goodness, we’ll have the rock-for-brains working to find trained serpentine scouts,” muttered Krux in a bitingly sarcastic voice. 

“What did you say?!” burst the Master of Earth, bristling defensively and fists bunching up at his side as he turned to face the shorter man. 

  
“Wow, rude!” exclaimed the Master of Lightning at the same moment, hands on her hips and leaning towards the young time masters. 

The Master of the Past was unmoved, and the Future was edging forward and looking ready for a physical fight to break out. Putting his hands behind his back, Krux argued unapologetically, “I mean what I say. The Master of Earth does not have the finesse or cunning for such an intricate strategy. He’d be more likely to accidently put the village in a sinkhole before finding _any_ spies. If we would pursue _my_ methods--” 

Slamming his hands on the table, Wu shouted, “Your plan is reckless and careless. The decision has already been made - we are not using it!” 

“You can’t--!” attempted to interject Acronix to his brother’s defense, scowling at Wu in rage as he did. Wu’s determination held, and he glared at the young warrior -- his brows lowering warningly. 

Krux put a halting hand to his twin’s shoulder, his mouth pulling into a tight, bitter scowl and his eyes flashing angrily even as he took a half-step back away from the action. Acronix’s shoulders loosened as he joined his brother, at the same time looking disappointed at not getting to fight. 

The alliance was tense, several eyes flicking between the arguing members. The Master of Light shifted on his feet and awkwardly coughed, trying to look away from the messy scene. Earth continued to glare hurtfully at the older Time Twin. A tense silence fell over the group, the room on eggshells wondering how the Hands of Time would react. 

“Fine, then,” spat Krux icily, hands still behind his back and posture tense. But, to the leader’s relief, he dropped the argument. 

The meeting concluded with few additional outbursts, though Wu kept a wary eye on the Twins throughout. He assigned Gravity to join Ice and Water against the Venomari, inquired Sound about serpentine activity back in his own home, and got through the final wrap up. Past remained stonily silent for the rest of the meeting, which Wu suspected was a mixed blessing. It was no secret among the Masters that the young man could hold a grudge. 

But, eventually, end the meeting did, and Wu exhaled heavily as it did-- watching half-heartedly as people lingered and chatted with each other afterwards. He gave a small smile when he saw Ray and Maya bunched up together and talking. His friends had gotten very close to one another, he had noticed. Departed Father, that would be at least one good thing to come out of this awful war. 

Earth, Ice, and Libber were in a pocket of their own, talking unhappily and looking over to the corner of the courtyard by the door. Reluctantly, suspecting what he might find, Wu followed their gazes and groaned at the seemingly perpetual thorns in his side that were the Hands of Time. The two twins had once again gone off to the side and were engulfed back in their own private world. 

Sinking to sit on the floor and cradling his head in his hand (a posture that was becoming more and more of a regular occurrence for him), not for the first time he wondered what could be done about them. It seemed that far too many meetings ended with shouting matches whenever the temperamental twins were involved. Why they could not just listen to orders -- or at _least_ make their arguments _calmly_ \-- baffled Wu. Even his own brother-- corrupted by venom that he was -- knew when to let an argument go. But Krux and Acronix seemed determined to fight his leadership at every turn. 

The Master of Creation could tell when the Hands of Time left, because the room seemed to heave a collective sigh. When he looked back up, turning around to peak over the strategy table, the time elementals were in fact, gone, and the remaining masters had gathered together in the center. Ice and Libber chatted more amicably than before, with Earth nodding along, and Ray and Maya had drifted in with a joke that made everyone laugh. Even the usually stoic Gravity and Shadow smiled lightly. Good fighters, good teammates, and good friends every one. And all of them trusting him to lead them through this war. 

With a shaky, heavy sigh he laboriously stood back up and joined the group, forcing a smile. The Time Twin problem could be dealt with at a later date. He needed to keep this team together as well as he could. It was his duty. Even if the members of that team were determined to make it difficult. 

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve just been thinking a lot lately of what the group dynamic of the Elemental Alliance might have been like back in the day. And I’ve done a bit of that musing from the Time Twin’s POVs, but not Wu’s. As much as I enjoy making the Twims sympathetic, that doesn’t mean I can’t understand why Wu and the others would be frustrated with them. 
> 
> So anyway hope you enjoyed. Comments and kudos are always very appreciated (especially comments. I literally respond to every comment so if you want to say something that isn’t even related to the fic I’m cool with it). Thanks for reading. :)


End file.
